New LinkedIn API Restrictions Shut Down Job Updater

Job Change Notifier, a cool little utility that allowed LinkedIn users to track and be notified via email when one of their connections changed jobs, is shutting down due to new restrictions LinkedIn is placing on its API. According to Job Change Notifier creator Roger Lee, the changes impact the ability of “set it and forget it” services like his to function, because now third-party apps can only access user data for 60 days, unless the user re-authenticates with the application.

“We’d have to remind users to log in to the app at least once every 60 days, or else the app would lose access,” Lee explains. “This, of course, makes the service a lot less useful.”

In the two years the service has been up and running, Lee says it had tracked nearly 10 percent of LinkedIn’s user base (22 million connections), had recorded 14 million job changes and sent out 7 million notification emails. Though arguably a small drop in the water that is LinkedIn’s ocean, the service was popular among startups, sales and biz-dev executives and, of course, recruiters.